Power Rankings

Power-Ranking the Cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past

James McAvoy (Young Charles Xavier)

Despite the fate of mutant-kind hinging on a time-traveling mission to stop a political assassination, there’s a surprising lack of drive for each character in the X-Men universe. McAvoy makes the most of it: Not only is he served the meatiest of the roles, but his second outing as the hip, moppet-headed Professor X is one scene-chewing moment after another. His signature two-fingers-to-the-cranium telepathy move is basically a model pose he continually strikes throughout the film. And his version of Charles dips his toes into absolute darkness, making us wonder if there’s anything McAvoy isn’t capable of. An M.V.P. in every sense of the word.

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If X-Men: Days of Future Past were a sports team, it would be the 1992 U.S.A. Olympic basketball “Dream Team.” By converging the timelines of the original X-Men trilogy with the rebooted X-Men: First Class property, director Bryan Singer assembled the mutant equivalents of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, and Scottie Pippen into one summer blockbuster event. X-Men: D.O.F.P. has time travel, it has giant robots, it has political intrigue, it has people shooting lasers/fire/portals out of their hands. (It does not have basketball, sadly). By Hollywood’s high standards, the movie goes for the gold.

That doesn’t mean every player on the bench goes on to become the M.V.P. Notable names are left meandering about the sidelines. Less recognizable talent elbows its way to the top. So who takes home the glory? Here are the power rankings of one of the expansive movie casts ever assembled.